Midnight Mission
by Medie Shanachie
Summary: Sheppard discovers all is not quiet after midnight on Atlantis.


_Author's Note: I just want to go on record saying that I don't write fan fiction. Honestly I don't. looks sheepish Okay so once in a while I do. This came to me while I was trying to figure out "Stonehenge Secret" and is a sequel of sorts, but you don't have to read the other one first. Just know that Aiden Bancroft (mine!) is a linguist who sometimes goes on missions with Lorne and his boys. The mission they refer to in the story is NOT the one from "Stonehenge Secret", but another one. By this time, Aiden has been on enough missions with the team that they are all pretty comfortable with her._

_So disclaimer: Sheppard and Lorne and Atlantis (and even Heightmeyer) don't belong to me (more's the pity on some of them). Aiden and Lorne's boys (AKA Deke, McFadden, Wall, and Murray) on the other hand do belong to me._

_Warnings: No whumping in the story; slight bruised knuckles on Sheppard's part. No language warnings (Wow! Aiden got through a whole story without swearing!) Shutting up now before the note is longer than the story._

* * *

Sheppard frowned as he neared the door to the commissary kitchen. The door was closed, not unusual at this time of night, but light spilled from the crack underneath it. It was too early for the breakfast staff and too late for the dinner so Sheppard wondered who had left the lights on. Approaching the door, he waved his hand at the crystals and stared in surprise when nothing happened. Placing his hand against the door, he thought '_unlock_' and '_open_' and, even after two years that _still_ hadn't gotten old, and found himself nose to nose with a nine millimeter. "I guarantee I can get a shot off before you reach your gun or your radio," a female voice snapped. 

Sheppard carefully raised his hands in surrender. "I'd really rather you didn't shoot me," he replied.

The gun disappeared from his view and he heard the click of the safety. "Ooops. Sorry, Colonel Sheppard. I guess I'm still a bit jumpy."

With the gun not taking all of his attention, Sheppard was able to see who was in the kitchen and he wasn't able to stop the grin from spreading across his face. Doctor Aiden Bancroft was, by far, one of the smallest expedition members and he had often heard the word cute applied to her, but he was quite sure no one else had seen her like this.

She was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a USMC shirt that was at least three sizes too big. A navy blue baseball cap was turned backwards on her head to contain her hair, although a lock had escaped and was trailing down her cheek. As she turned her back on him, tucking the gun into her waistband, he was able to see that it wasn't a team cap but a USAF cap that she wore. Smudges of flour and what he could only assume was dough marred her pixie face.

"That's understandable," he told her, remembering she had been on the last mission with Lorne's team when it went pear-shaped. "What are you doing?" he asked, tucking his hands in his pockets and looking around.

She pulled a tray of something out of the oven and slid another one in, setting the first tray on a counter. "Baking cookies," she replied as if it was obvious. She turned and began to scoop dough onto an empty sheet. Sheppard looked around the room, where cookies covered almost every conceivable surface and had to admit it probably was an obvious answer.

Sheppard glanced at his watch. "At oh two forty-five? By yourself?" he questioned.

She shrugged, moving to another sheet. "I couldn't sleep. And I'm not alone. Evan will be back in a few minutes. He went to get something."

"Evan?" Sheppard questioned, taking a seat on one of the stools scattered around the room.

He reached for one of the cookies on a near-by pile and jumped as a spatula landed on his knuckles. "Those are Murray's." Aiden told him sternly, shaking the spatula she had just hit him with at him. She used it to point at another pile. "You can eat some of those."

He reached over and took a handful of cookies, holding them up for her approval. When she nodded, he took a bite of one. "You do realize I'm the military commander of Atlantis, right?" he asked as he watched her go back to work.

"You do realize I've been baking for four hours, right?" she retorted before answering his earlier question, "And yes, Evan." When he still looked confused, she elaborated, "Major Lorne."

He nodded then. "So why are you baking?"

She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him. Sheppard was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "I screwed up," she confessed. "If I hadn't gotten so wrapped up in what I was doing, Wall and McFadden wouldn't have been shot. This is the least I can do to make it up to them."

"I read Lorne's AAR," Sheppard remarked, careful not to mention the tears. "Yeah, you were wrapped up in what you were doing, but once the shooting started, you reacted. You're not a soldier, but you shot back and you covered Deke while he grabbed McFadden. Everyone came back and they'll recover." He popped the last of the cookie into his mouth. "Now you do realize Lorne's Marines are going to have to defend these cookies with their lives, right?"

She grinned. "I have five older brothers, Colonel. When I bake cookies, I bake for a Marine battalion. There'll be plenty to go around."

"Aiden, how did you get the door...?" Lorne's voice trailed off as he entered the kitchen and found his CO sitting on a stool. "Sir," he started.

Sheppard waved off whatever he was going to say. "Don't worry about it, Lorne, but you might want to disarm her before she accidentally shoots someone."

"Disarm?" Lorne looked confused, then down at the empty holster on his hip. He held out his hand to her. "I'm not even going to ask how you lifted that without me noticing," he said as she sheepishly handed the gun over. He slipped something into her hand in exchange.

Sheppard grinned. "No harm done." He motioned with his head for Lorne to follow him out into the hall. "Has she been to see Heightmeyer?" he asked quietly once both men were outside the kitchen.

Lorne shook his head. "But she's got an appointment tomorrow. I think that's part of what brought on the baking spurt."

"She's blaming herself for McFadden and Wall being shot."

Lorne sighed. "I know. Both of the boys told her it wasn't her fault, but," he shrugged, "it'll take a while."

Sheppard nodded. "Let me know if she needs to be pulled from your team."

"I actually think that would be the worst thing, sir," Lorne said, then smiled as Aiden came into the hallway. "You done?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Not quite. Are you coming back in?"

He nodded. "In a minute. Did you get the iPod hooked up?"

She nodded. "Yes." She held a container out to Sheppard. "For you, Colonel. So you don't have to fight the jarheads for your fair share."

Sheppard took the container in surprise. He hadn't expected her to think of him specifically with all her worry about Lorne's team. "Thanks, Aiden," he said.

Both men were silent as they watched her walk back into the kitchen. "I'll keep an eye on her, sir," Lorne assured him, before following her back into the room.

Sheppard waved his hand over the door crystals, shutting the door on the two, and tucked the container of cookies underneath his arm. With a smile now for the still warm cookies he would indulge in when he finished his rounds, he continued on in the direction he had been heading before his interruption. He had to admit one thing since coming here; life on Atlantis was full of surprises.


End file.
